Australian dollar boosted by retail sales

5 November, 2013

The Australian dollar was boosted by better-than forecast retail sales data, which lessens the possibility a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia at its meeting tomorrow. Local retail sales jumped 0.8 percent in September from 0.5 percent in August, recording the biggest increase in seven months.

The encouraging data had a positive effect on the aussie, lifting AUDUSD by half a percent to a session high of $0.9496. The pair has moved off a two-week low of $0.9420 hit last Friday.

In other currencies, trading volumes were light, especially in the yen pairs due to markets being closed in Japan today. The yen was flat against the US dollar and traded a tight range just above 98.64, consolidating gains made from Friday’s rally to a high of 98.83 yen.

The euro remained near a six-week low against the US dollar, after a sharp 2 percent decline last week. The single currency is under pressure due to speculation that the European Central Bank may lower the benchmark interest rate its policy meeting later this week. EURUSD opened the session at 1.3485 and dipped to as low as 1.3441 before ending with a 0.05% change at 1.3493.

The best performing currency during Thursday’s Asian session was the Australian dollar which jumped against its US counterpart after strong Australian business spending data. Private Capital Expenditure increased by 3.6% quarter-on-quarter despite expectations for a decline by 1.1%...

The euro was stronger today particularly against the dollar and the pound. While there were no economic data releases today from the Eurozone to explain the move, there were some headline news which affected sterling and dollar...

The yen was supported by safe haven demand today after the release of a slightly dovish Bank of Japan policy meeting minutes. The minute from last weeks meeting showed some concern about Japans economic outlook and whether the central bank 2% inflation target could be met...

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